


Unmasked

by bohemiantea



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Smut, Masks, Mischief, More fluff than smut actually, Satinalia, bored at parties
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 06:29:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17075132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bohemiantea/pseuds/bohemiantea
Summary: Kalya Tabris has to attend a Satinalia party she's not thrilled to be at. Zevran finds a way to make it a good time after all.





	Unmasked

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AvrielleRogue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvrielleRogue/gifts).



> I was prompted to do a little fluffy smut for either Kalya and Alistair or Kalya and Zevran. I really really hope I did your OC justice, Avi! It's not terribly smutty, but hopefully just spicy enough to whet the appetite. :) Merry Christmas!

Kalya was never going to enjoy a party with nobles. Once she might have faked it with some liquid courage, but trying to stay sober around a bunch of stuck-up assholes who kept mistaking her for a servant? Not going to happen.

A Satinalia party in Denerim that Elissa insisted on? Guaranteed torture.

Kalya stood by a buffet table, eyeing the assorted shelled nuts and wondering if she could get away with surreptitiously flicking them at Arl Eamon or one of the other dozen stuffed shirts wandering the room. It was Satinalia, after all. Wasn’t there supposed to be…antics?

It was weird seeing so many people in masks, too, like it was a temporary Orlesian invasion. She only got one – a plain green eyemask that made her face itch – because of Elissa, though Bann Teagan seemed to like it. His particolored mask covered half his face, the other half an encouraging smile as he’d wished her a Happy Satinalia.

She snuck a look at Alistair. Sometimes he seemed to be having a good time laughing at someone’s jokes or dancing with Elissa. Other times she was pretty sure he was miserable, shuffling his feet until someone caught his attention and he’d force a big smile. His mask was an unsubtle maroon and gold, a “gift” from Elissa right before the party.

With Warden Cousland stuck like a burr at his side, there was no way Kalya would get to spend any time with Alistair. He could also have made this bearable, but that wasn’t going to happen either.

There was a set of musicians warming up and some partygoers congregated near the dance floor. The noble ladies floated like brightly colored flowers in a meadow, so at home in their finery. Kalya envied them a little: she had her own grace, but it was meant for cutting a throat and not a rug. She felt like some awkward livestock in the yards of green satin draping her frame.

She sighed, then grabbed a handful of the nuts. Might as well stuff her face.

_*plink*_

A prissy-mouthed noble girl whining at her father looked around for the source of Kalya’s flicked walnut, pouting and scowling when she couldn’t figure it out. She stomped away. Maybe Kalya could have a little fun after all?

“That was too easy,” Zevran said.

She looked over: he was grinning at her from under a red and black eyemask that matched his simple finery. He wouldn’t be mistaken for a noble, but she was sure he wouldn’t be mistaken for a servant either. One of the few high-class workers from the Pearl she could see at the party, maybe.

“Yeah?” she said and rolled her eyes. “I guess you could do better, huh?”

“Hmm, perhaps, but your target was too predictable. If you wish them to have trouble guessing who is throwing perfectly good food, you could try picking someone you like as well.” Zevran picked up a few nuts of his own and bounced them in his hand, glancing from Kalya to the crowd and back again.

She snorted.

“Guess that means I won’t be throwing any more, then.”

Now it was Zevran’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Certainly, keep lying to yourself if you wish. Meanwhile, pick a less obvious target, hmm?”

Kalya eyed the crowd. She could try pelting Oghren or Leliana, but he wouldn’t care and Leliana was farther away than she liked. There was a sour-faced grizzled and weasely nobleman navigating around desserts, but the rest had moved toward the dance floor.

Including Elissa and Alistair, the former leading the latter and obviously wanting to dance. She frowned and rolled a walnut in her fingers.

Zevran caught the direction of her stare and laughed.

“Oh ho, now there’s a good challenge. They will be dancing. Can you aim properly?”

“I can aim just fine! I, uh.” She popped the walnut in her mouth and mumbled.

“Hmm? What was that?”

“I’d have to get closer,” she said reluctantly. Like, maybe even on the dance floor. She didn’t want to be there, looking and feeling awkward. She was trying to have fun, not feel worse.

“And the problem with that is…?” Zevran said, folding his arms and cocking his head.

She scowled and indicated her dress.

“How much more obvious can it be that I don’t belong there?” She stared over at the bevy of gently swaying hips in rustling silks and brocades. “They’ll spot me before I make a move.”

“Only because you stun them into jealousy, _mia cara_. And we can move fast enough they will never know!” He glided closer, glancing from Kalya to the dance floor and back again.

“We?” Wait, what?

“Yes, ‘we’!”

Zevran grabbed her hand and began weaving through the crowd.

“Are you kidding me?” She felt like shrieking. She could see a lot of puzzled faces in Zevran’s wake. Great.

“Do I look as if I am?” he said, whirling her around in his arms as they hit the edge of the dance floor. The musicians had finished their warm-up and began a popular folk reel to get toes tapping. Zevran’s face struggled between a solemn air of festivity and outright mischievous beaming.

“Yes!” she hissed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Firstly, getting a danced with you. Secondly,” he said, as he started the first steps of the dance and pulled her along with him, “getting you into position so you may throw a nut into Elissa’s bosom.”

Kalya sucked in a breath between her teeth, concentrating on following along for the moment. Zevran mistook her silence for concern.

“Thirdly,” he continued, “I am trying to get you to have fun. I like seeing you smile.”

She could feel one creeping onto her face unbidden in response.

“I’ll be happier to be out of here. Hurry it up, we’ll be passing her in a few turns,” Kalya said, trying to feel the music and not feel dismayed to be in the middle of all the whirling and twirling. She could kick a few feet out from under all these shems, maybe then she’d feel more like she fit in.

“Have I told you what a turn-on it is to see you plotting?” Zevran said casually as he maneuvered them closer and closer to Warden Cousland and poor Alistair.

She couldn’t recall if he had. She still had a few nuts in her hand and she was trying to eyeball their trajectory into Elissa’s low-cut décolletage, so she didn’t answer. But once this was done…

_*plink!*_

“What the…!” Elissa shrieked as Zevran whirled Kalya away. She couldn’t help giggling. Alistair was confused but also laughing, trying to understand why Elissa was red-faced and wiggling harder than an excited mabari puppy.

“Go, go go!” she said in a harsh whisper to Zevran. He grinned openly and steered them quickly off of the dance floor.

“Did you see her face?” Kalya snickered. Warden Cousland would be in a foul mood if she found out it was her flicking walnuts, but right now: worth it.

“I did. I only wish you could see yours,” he said, and kept pulling her out of the main hall altogether. Bemused Kalya followed him into a draped alcove, the party now just a pleasant murmur behind them.

“Don’t know why you’d want that,” she said, now wondering if he really meant what he’d said on the dance floor. Honestly, it was the way he’d said it that now had her a little turned on and while the alcove wasn’t particularly dark – a little candlelight reflected on a portrait-sized mirror – it was at least private enough that anyone approaching could pretend they didn’t see the couple.

Zevran’s eyes were molten under his Satinalia mask and he raised a gloved hand to her face.

“Because this expression of yours makes me want to do unspeakable things right here. Right now.”

Oh. He definitely meant it. Kalya flushed. It was Satinalia. There were plenty antics to be had here in the alcove.

“So tell me about them,” she said, shivering a little in anticipation as Zevran slowly turned her to face the mirror. Maybe they didn’t match, but the two of them sure did complement each other. And seeing herself next to him, the way he looked her over before pressing up behind her, made her want him to do whatever “unspeakable” he uttered in her ear.

“Gladly,” he said, his voice low. One hand was lifting the back of her dress while the other cradled her cheek. Someone could come along at any minute. Would they guess who Kalya and Zevran were?

As liquid heat began pooling between Kalya’s legs, she decided she didn’t care. She’d keep the mask on anyway... This time.


End file.
